"Grand Prix Seattle 2018... I had a day one undefeated run in the Standard Grand Prix event and got to meet so many people for the first time who would go on to be lifelong friends.

"The lead-up to it also got me started with writing articles, so I can't help but feel like it was an event that changed my life." - Paige, on her favorite Magic memory.

For Women's History Month I interviewed a handful of women about their relationship with Magic: The Gathering.

Note: They are all women so for the sake of the article I will be saying women instead of femmes.

Meet Our Interviewees

Bre Fluno

Bre is an Event Manager at CoolStuff Games Maitland. She has been playing Magic for about 13 years. Her handle is @bref713 on Instagram.

Paige Smith

Paige is a writer for CoolStuffInc and a member of the Pauper Format Panel. She first started Magic in 1999, but her love affair with TCGs as a whole goes back even further. Her BlueSky handle is @themaverickgirl.bsky.social

Tiffany Nguyen

Tiffany is a Content Creator that focuses on MTG's Modern Format on TikTok. She has been playing for 12 years now. Her handle is @butmakeitcat on everything.

Starting Magic

Paige started Magic way back in 1999 with Urza Block. "Thankfully, I played extremely casually so I wasn't turned off by the brutal Standard environment of the era," she said.

I couldn't imagine playing Magic in an environment before Pauper or Commander myself.

Tiffany and Bre both started playing close to the same time. Tiffany started in Return to Ravnica around 2012. Bre started around 2013-2014 with Born of the Gods and Theros.

Bre stated, "I had roommates who were interested and we all went to a local game store together, bought some standard precons and fell in love."

Favorite Format

Tiffany said, "Modern is my absolute favorite format because... the meta doesn't change as drastically with each new set like Standard and the card pool isn't as dauntingly large as Legacy or Vintage."

I've heard this is part of the general appeal of Modern. There aren't very many people who rep Modern as much as Tiffany. Bre is like me in the fact that she mainly plays Commander. She's tried Standard a little and Pioneer.

"In my heart, I'd love to say Legacy, but let's be real: it's Pauper," Paige said when asked, "I also help run the format as a member of the Pauper Format Panel so I feel somewhat obligated to spread the love for this awesome format when I get the chance."

First Format

I love Paige's answer about her first deck so much. It's so chaotic, "A giant five-color pile of 'cards I own' at a kitchen table with my sister and my cousins. Silly, dumb fun in a way that reminds me of the Commander experience long before Commander was a thing."

That's what Magic was largely like for me too. I played a lot of bulk.

Tiffany said, "My first Modern deck was Simic Infect around 2014."

It's so interesting to me how so many of our first experiences with Magic are so different. Tiffany had a structured experience while Paige didn't. Granted, Paige played in the Dark Ages. I'm kidding.

Competitions

Paige went on to say, "When I first started grinding the format seriously, I picked up Mono-Black Control... because I loved Gray Merchant of Asphodel as a card.

It wasn't my first time with the format, though. I played a bit of Storm briefly in the Grapeshot/Empty the Warrens days before both of those cards were banned."

Tiffany added, "After I got more familiar with the meta, I moved onto my Grixis Death's Shadow (GDS) [deck]. I love the concept of using my life as a resource...

After GDS was no longer competitive, I stuck with Rakdos Scam until they banned Grief (rest in peace). Now I am on Domain Zoo and it's so fun to have a large selection of cards since I'm not as limited to specific colors like most other decks.

With Zoo, I won a regional championship qualifier, day 2ed a regional championship, got my first MTGO league 5-0 trophy, and got my first MTGO challenge top 8."

Seeing players growing over time in competitive formats is really uplifting. It inspires other players to push past their limits. I know that I've been motivated by my heroes to be stronger, more resilient.

Favorite Cards

Bre's favorite, "sorcery, [is] Traumatize. It always delivers and makes me feel nostalgic. Tasha's Hideous Laughter for a newer pick is always a treat."

She mentioned that her "first deck wasn't meta or even named, but it was Dimir Mill. I opened several powerful cards, including the Liliana and Jace planeswalkers as well as Traumatize, Thoughtseize, Consuming Aberration, and Pilfered Plans.

I built a deck around them. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize why no one wanted to play against me, and even though I tried playing at my LGS during a couple FNM[s]."

It took me a long time to understand the subculture of fun and unfun cards too. I used to play a very bad, rule zero, exile typal deck. I just liked Kaya and wanted to play all the cards that worked with her. Everyone hated it.

Paige's favorite card was, "Wellwisher, easily. It's wild how much life one card can generate for you like this one can.

Not only did that instill in me a love for Elves as a strategy, but it taught me how you don't always have to win by taking your opponent's life totals to zero. Sometimes making it so they can't kill you is more than enough to get the job done."

I don't know if I condone forcing people to scoop to win, but I do like the other card strategy she mentions. I love weird cards that have niche power.

"I'll never pass up an opportunity to talk about how much I love Prototype Portal in my Sharuum the Hegemon deck. You can make an Artifact Land every turn - more with an Unwinding Clock in play - or get wild with a Howling Mine.

There are tons of cool things you can put under it that do silly things to your games and make it an incredibly underrated piece of tech."

Prized Magic Item

When asked about her prized Magic items Paige said, "I've got a few items I cherish, but my favorite is almost certainly my trophy plaque I got from winning the SCG Con Pauper Classic back in 2018.

It's the only one ever given out for Pauper and was a major win in a big year for me."

That's such a huge thing to win. A badge of commendation. I would hold that close to my heart too.

Tiffany said, "I have a '...but make it cat' collection of artist proofs for which I ask Magic artists to depict the original art of the card on the blank side of the proof but turn the subjects into cats.

It's really hard for me to choose a favorite but the one that comes to mind when asked is my revised Wheel of Fortune proof by Daniel Gelon. It's so purrfect." Just look at them. It's such a cool collection!

The Players Outside of Magic

I asked Bre what she's up to when she's not playing Magic: "I also play Dungeons and Dragons. I've been a DM for... close to seven years, including now for our store sessions. I also do a bit of console and PC gaming.

I used to play MMO's like WoW back in the day but now I mostly play RPGs on my PlayStation or Fortnite with friends. For other TCG's I've gotten into Riftbound, Lorcana, and I just started Pokemon!"

Paige has a hobby in common, "I'm a tremendous video game fanatic, with close to 600 physical games. I love the variety of experiences out there ranging from simple fun to gripping storytelling that keeps me coming back."

It's important to remember that when we meet a Magic player, they're more than just that. They have families, friends, hobbies, and pastimes beyond the game.

Which women should I pick?

Before we close this article, I want to take a moment to share a little with you about Women's History Month and my choices with this article.

Women's History Month used to just be a week from the 80s until it was recognized as a month in 1995. I'm older than Women's History Month, but with 30 years of history, I'd barely heard of it. I wanted to make a good impression with this article.

I knew I wanted to interview femmes about Magic: The Gathering. I say femmes because there are people who aren't women with the capital "W" who might claim some aspects of womanhood, like myself. I feel comfortable writing on behalf of women for this reason.

I wanted a diversity of backgrounds in demographics and in involvement in Magic. I wanted a unique perspective on womanhood. I was obsessed with this idea of Women in Magic. The Woman part was capitalized or italicized.

I thought about women exceptionalism like Sylvie Sherman who had won the Fishbowl 6 cEDH Tournament. I thought about interviewing really famous Magic creators like Rachel Weeks and Princess Weekes, but it didn't sit right with me.

Then, I wanted to focus on the struggles women faced in a male dominated space, talk about fighting for equality every day. I wanted to shine a light on the disparities of our daily lives as femmes, but it was all so depressing.

I wanted something fun, uplifting, and exciting. Everything about Women's History Month was a bummer. Being a woman shouldn't feel like a bummer all the time, right?

Then I thought about men. When we talk about Magic with men, we don't search out the best of the best to just talk about it. We didn't just focus on the competitiveness and the struggles they faced.

We just talk about it. Women want to talk about Magic and how fun it is just like everyone else, not be relegated to Magic at its most exceptional and with the struggle associated with it.

I wanted the voices on this to be relatable too. I wanted it to be writers, people who work at LGSs, and content creators. I wanted a mix of perspectives. I wanted readers to feel like the stories were from people like them.

So, that's what this article was. Just talking about Magic... with women. And it was fun. I'm @strixhavendropout on everything.